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Saturday, May 14, 2016

Books Noted (psychology, business, technology)

Some folks in the circle were asking me about books I'd recommend. What follows are books that might be found in the psychology, business, and technology sections that I've returned turned to or will return to over time.

• Clive Thompson's Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better (2013) -- Groups of us have benefited reading this work that uncovers all the ways that technology is enhancing the ways we think and engage with everyday problems.[Reading group]

• Sheena Iyengar's The Art of Choosing (2010) -- This work charts some of the ways that choice works in different cultural contexts. Iyengar also provides clues on how we might make better choices. [Reading group]

• Kathryn Schulz's Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (2010) -- We've all been wrong at some point, and this book provides compelling narratives on how and why error happens and what it can mean. [Reading Group]

• Charles Duhigg's Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business (2016) -- I just finished this one, and really enjoying what Duhigg presents concerning motivation, goal-setting, and the value of studying and learning from failure.

• Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success (2008) -- well, in the realm of books we've covered as a group, this is a somewhat oldie but goodie. Gladwell's work is a useful primer for thinking about how select people benefit from advantages well beyond their control. His discussion of accumulative advantage and cultural legacies, for instance, are fascinating. [Reading group]